An exchange of letters between Eli and his educator from Kibbutz Hulata, the educator Moshe Gershuni. The letters were written about two years before the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and against the background of terrible polarization between the right and the left due to the Oslo Accords.
In honor of Musa Gershuni, peace and blessings!
Why am I writing to you?
True, I have a family in Hulata, and every year we meet and whitewash the issues of the time and generation - that is, everyone recites his "I believe" and within minutes it degenerates into a worthless loud argument, until Ofra, my cousin, recalls Hanan's trumpet or Shani's adventures. , And move to calmer, more family-friendly stripes.
Whereas you are, for me, a distant person, on the one hand. And on the other hand, a person from whom I absorbed a lot in the short time I lived in Hulata. The scent of garbage, patriotism, historical observation - excerpts from sentences and conversations I picked up, I swallowed along with your wife's excellent cakes.
Obviously, you, like the Carmeli family, are happy with the "chance for peace," angry at "opponents of peace on both sides," and so on. But, of course, the period also evokes distant, deep thoughts about the essence of our people and our country, the destiny (?) Of Israel and more.
My family and I, today, live and grow on Hebron soil. And Hebron is stormy, or it is in the eye of the storm. The existential danger, the imminent bereavement, the media noise, all these are agitating and confusing, failing and forging. Everyone responds, copes according to what he is. Lots of channels of expression and creation open up, which in peaceful times were in a coma.
And I was pushed to connect with something (or at least try to connect) with a childhood landscape, with those strong and good currents of life that washed over me when I arrived in Israel after the Six Day War.
And in fact, what am I asking for? I do not know exactly.
Share, hear, voice, exchange letters, opinions, impressions, experiences.
In this letter, nothing, just open. If you agree, if you want - write.
I enclose with this a short article I wrote, publicist. Words of emotion and not words of reference.
If you find meaning in my words, you may be able to publish them in Shadmot or another kibbutz magazine. This is the main target audience that was in front of my eyes at the time of writing.
I knew little, at the time, the population of Hulata, the nature of the members of the economy, its naturalness and its complications. I know a different population today - that of Kiryat Arba. Very different character. Definitely. But by no means are these two planets. Is brotherhood possible, fruitful mutual listening possible?
I believe so - I can not think otherwise.
And all the beginnings are hard…
I hope my words find you in excellent health, and a time of desire and that I will hear from you soon.
Eli (Carmeli *) Horovitz
* I'm no longer Carmeli, of course, but I wrote that you can identify who the author is.
post Scriptum. I wrote to you, Musa, because I know and appreciate you. But my intention is to open a dialogue with whoever wants it from the visionaries and educators in the kibbutz movement, and if it seems to you to share others from Hulata or other interfaces, I have no objection.
Hulata, May 5 1994
Eli and his family have a bunch of congratulations.
I received your letter and the article attached to it. I have read the article more than once and I must point out that I understand your concerns, share your grief over bereavement and even wholeheartedly sympathize with your words, seeking mutual brotherhood and listening to each other, because "only then - as you conclude your article - will natural solutions to our political complications The gloom that surrounds us all will shed a great light. '
Dear Eli, I hope you will agree with me, because in order to reach brotherhood and mutual understanding - as we both want and strive - we must treat each other in cultural ways, in clean and careful language, taking into account the feelings of others and most importantly, mutual sense of shared destiny.
I'm sorry and apologize in advance for not accepting the things you attribute in your article to the government and the media, as if they treat the settlers with antisemitic, abominable and ugly racism, full of lies and distortions ופים
Your right to me to oppose the actions of the government and even to revolt against the media, but the words and concepts you used to blame them, are very serious and I suggest you kindly guard and beware of drifting to extremes, because we have learned from nature and history that extremism brings destruction.
I follow the events with concern; Sees the sights and hears the voices, shocked to see children and incited boys waving pictures of the person elected prime minister of Israel, screaming in their throats, "Rabin is a traitor! Rabin is a murderer! 'And then they bring to the fore the picture of the prime minister together with pictures of our great enemy, with loud screams of victory.
I do not know if you watch TV and if you have witnessed the wild demonstrations. Anyway I'm sure you as an educator, understand and know the damage and the negative consequences on the souls of boys and girls and I do not want to mention shots of innocents.
Along with all this I know very well that the settler public is not made of one piece. My heart goes out to the silent majority of the settlers, who, in a state of uncertainty, live a life of anxiety, worry and apprehension about the aftermath. At the beginning of your article you described this situation aptly and indeed things moved me greatly.
Our political situation is tense and worrying. The enemies around us have not yet come to terms with our existence. Time is not working in our favor and we must make every effort to remain united as one people, despite the deep disagreements between us.
I would be very happy to have a face-to-face dialogue with you on a charged and complex issue such as the future of our lives here in Israel and in general, on the future of Zionism. When you make a family visit to her patient, you are invited with your family to stay with us and with a cup of coffee and cake, we can have a heart-to-heart conversation as it is said, "Concern in the heart of the man of Jesus."
And until we meet I must write to you to me, for I do not believe we can live on our sword until the end of days. Nor do I believe that in the age of the modern media we can live as "a people alone will dwell and the Gentiles will not be considered."
I carry a prayer in my heart that the vision of the end times will be fulfilled in us, it is true that the Temple of the Lord will be at the top of the mountains, and we will rise from hills, and all the nations will flock to it, and many peoples will go and say: For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. "
I congratulate you and your family,
In the friendship of Moshe Gershuni.
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